Garrigan Leads Elon Women’s Lacrosee Phoenix Past Hatters in Win

DELAND, Fla. – Molly Garrigan scored a single-game program-record seven goals to lead the Elon women’s lacrosse team to an 18-6 victory at Stetson today, April 25. The win keeps the Phoenix undefeated in Atlantic Sun play and improves the team to 8-7 overall and 4-0 in the conference, while the Hatters fall to 1-15 and 1-3 in the A-Sun.

Elon outshot Stetson, 35-16, and claimed the advantage at the draw, 15-11. The Phoenix went 13-of-15 on clear attempts and picked up 14 ground balls. Seven players tallied points in the game with each of those seven scoring goals.

Garrigan scored her seven goals off 10 shots, while Olivia Fernandez and Sydney Hesselbein each contributed three scores. Sloane Kessler finished the day with two goals and two assists followed by a goal and two assists from Anna Vitton. Megan Weissman and Annie Shenk each recorded scores in the game as well. Elon scored four of its goals on free-position goals, going a perfect 4-for-4 on free-position shots.

Kelli Stack won five draws for the maroon and gold, while Elle Hvozdovic claimed four. Both Vitton and goalie Rachel Ramirez led the team with three ground balls as Ramirez also finished with three caused turnovers.

In goal, Ramirez posted eight saves after 14 Stetson shots on goal to finish with a 57.1 save percentage.

Stetson went 7-of-9 in clear attempts and picked up 10 ground balls. Linday Summers and Danielle Horgan each scored two goals for the Hatters, while Caili Guilday took the loss after 44 minutes between the posts and a 37.5 save percentage after nine saves on 29 Elon shots on goal.

The Hatters scored first before Elon answered with goals by Garrigan and Hesselbein to take a 2-1 lead at the 23:43 mark. Stetson tied the game at two-all before the Phoenix rattled off seven straight, including three by Garrigan and two by Fernandez, to claim a seven-goal advantage, 9-2, with 11:40 remaining in the opening half. Hesselbein netted the final goal of the half at the 4:47 mark to give the maroon and gold an 11-3 lead at the break.

In the second half, Vitton, Kessler and Fernandez all posted goals in the first six minutes to extend the edge to 11, 14-3, with 24:56 remaining. After a goal by the Hatters, Hesselbein and Garrigan scored again to give Elon its biggest lead of the game, 16-4, with 11:31 left to play. Stetson scored again before Garrigan netted her program-record seventh goal for a 17-5 lead with just over seven minutes remaining. Shenk closed out the game with a score at the 2:07 mark to maintain the 12-point win for the Phoenix.

Elon will close out the regular season on Sunday, April 27, at Jacksonville. The Dolphins and the Phoenix will play at 1 p.m. in Jacksonville, Fla.